An experimental encounter between the arts and sciences to help negotiate new epistemologies and a better relationship with both museum and living heritage.
18 to 28 February 2023 in Dschang-Cameroon
The exhibition-workshop "Reconnecting objects, knowledge and/or subjects" was part of a dynamic in which artistic and scientific polyphony and the friction of multiple intelligences around questions of restitution and re-connection to resilient arts and heritage resonated to lay the foundations of epistems capable of fertilising new energies in the face of the realities of the present and the ambitions of the future.
The aim of this exhibition, which seemed to have been achieved by the end of the event, was to move away from the prejudices, fantasies and traumas associated with colonisation and the prevailing neo-colonialism, and to look to the future through a qualitative and selective flashback to the past as a basis on which to co-construct the real and the possible based on the experiences of the present. In addition, the need to rethink the issues of museums, exhibitions and our relationship with our ancient and contemporary arts, or with our historical and cultural heritage in Cameroon or in Africa, following the example of Dschang, animated this moment. The exhibition took place in the open-air space of the Alliance Franco Camerounaise, where a multitude of living museums rubbed shoulders. In our view, this is highly relevant, because every articulation of the exhibition, every object brought together and staged, and every live performance, carried significant material and immaterial burdens. In this respect, it is important to mention the living museums, whose position in the public square facilitated permanent contact, free of charge, with and sometimes without noise, and free dialogue with the public. The multicoloured thread that linked the different sections of the exhibition route and the paintings together was a visual and symbolic embodiment of the re-connection that the event represented. A symbol of our cultural DNA, this thread brought to life the idea of connection and ultimately interconnection between humanities and immaterialities, without borders or discrimination of any kind.
One of the experimental and ultimately successful elements of this exhibition is the musical animation of the sculptures on show. Musician Alex Njambou, who combines the visual and the auditory, has taken on the role of lyricist or griot to give voice to Marios Kenfack's Nu Ndzem collection.